Questions?
Why do books need a good index?
An index is more than just an alphabetical list of keywords (indexers call that a concordance). It’s a road map to the concepts and ideas the author discusses and it’s written from the reader’s viewpoint. Just as important, a good index adds to the book’s marketability. Individual browsers, the acquisitions librarian, a state textbook adoption committee, and an educator sourcing the right title to support a curriculum turn to the index for a quick evaluation of a book’s content. At what point is the index written and how long does it take?
In most cases, the indexer begins work when the book has been through copyediting, design, and layout and after it has reached final galley stage. Traditionally, the indexer works from a photocopy of the final page proofs. Today many indexers work from pdf files, the electronic version of final proofs. Often the author is checking final proofs while the indexer works. The indexer reads every page in the book and determines how that page’s content should be described in the index. For some books, a professional can index eight to ten pages an hour. For others, two to three pages per hour might be the limit. After writing the entire index, most professionals spend another day or more to edit the final index for accuracy, consistency, and completeness. How do I judge the quality of an index?
As indexers work they compare their output to an evaluation checklist that addresses the three primary components of an index: main headings, subheadings, and page locators. They pay attention to cross references and double posting, techniques that improve the usability of an index. Finally, they work according to best practices that have to do with how the index looks: run-in or indented style, type size, punctuation, and either word-by-word or letter-by-letter sorting. They also make sure the length of the finished index conforms to industry standard for trade books, scholarly books, and reference books and that it fits within the pages the publisher has allocated. Most professional indexers follow guidelines published in The Chicago Manual of Style (the chapter on indexing) and Nancy Mulvany’s Indexing Books published by University of Chicago Press. |
For more information or to request an estimate, contact us at info@PrestoBookIndexing.com or call 414-526-2554.
|